Alternatively referred to as mass e-mail marketing, UCE ( unsolicited commercial e-mail ) and bulk e-mail , spam (not the meat product) is slang that describes junk e-mail on the Internet.
Spam is an e-mail sent to thousands and sometimes millions of people without prior approval, promoting a particular product, service, or a scam to get other people's money.
The first spam e-mail was sent by Gary Thuerk on May 1 , 1978 , an employee at Digital who was advertising the new DEC SYSTEM-2020, 2020T,2060, and 2060T on ARPANET.